Questions about Beans
 

This will only be my second year trying to grow beans.
Is it okay to plant them in the same spot as last year?
And do I need to add any amendments to the soil if they are planted in the same spot?

The varieties I will be growing are:
Kentucky Wonder Bush
Tendergreen Green Beans [Bush bean]
Kentucky Wonder [Pole]
Rattlesnake [Pole]
Sultan's Crescent Green [Pole]

Any varieties you would recommend for fresh eating and cooking that will grow well in my zone 4 area?


Thanks,
Jean

I use compost till it in and im good to go, but I do a soil test as well. Beans put Nitrogen into the soil in a round about way so if you do use fert dont go with a heavy Nitrogen type.

Questions about Beans
 

Hi, Jean; welcome to Tomatoville. I'm in North Mississippi and this is how I grow my beans.

First of all I don't use any commercial fertilizer, only the grass and weeds growing on the beds and in the middles. It is mowed and tilled into the soil.

I grow my beans on raised beds which run North and South. They are 4' wide X 100' long with 3' middles between the rows. The rows have a 1/2" of fall in 10' (or an 1/8th of a bubble if you use a line level to lay out your rows).

I plant both bush and pole beans 2 rows per bed with 2' between the rows. The beans are planted 2 beans per hill with 10" between hills (I plant 3 seeds per hill and thin to the strongest 2 when the first true leaves are formed).

For pole beans, I use 1" x 7' PVC plastic conduit on 4' centers and 59" plastic vegetable trellis (with a 5" x 7" grid). The trellis is installed about a foot off the ground to allow use of a hoe and weedeater to control grass and weeds until the beans gain control of their area. The conduit and trellis stay in place and will last about 5 years as it is UV resistant.

These are Rattlesnake pole beans. They have very good flavor and are productive. They grew to the top of the trellis producing a crop of beans, then rested for 3 weeks and regrew new growth back down to the ground producing an even larger second crop, then continued to produce until frost. Claud

@saltmarsh - Thanks. That is a very nice setup you have. Nice pics.

I do not have a big area. The place I am planting is actually off my neighbors deck. It probably is around 15ft. Wish I had a bigger area but I am in an urban setting with limited space.

Glad to hear the Rattlesnake are tasty. I only grew the Sultans last year because I got a free packet of seeds. They were very late to produce beans for me. Not sure if it was the weather, new planting area or if that is how they are. So beans in general are very new to me.

@tapout - I will add some compost to the area. I did not use any fertilizer on the bed as I read that beans didn't need it. Not sure if that is accurate.

Claud, great setup! How do you erect the pvcs? Do you have to pund in some rebars first to hold them straight and up?

[QUOTE=NewWestGardener;450986]Claud, great setup! How do you erect the pvcs? Do you have to pund in some rebars first to hold them straight and up?[/QUOTE]

I use 1 1/4" thinwall metal conduit (EMT) cut into 10" lengths for normal and clay soils and 12" lengths for sandy soils such as where you see the beans growing. One end is closed using a large vise to keep the tube from filling with dirt when it is driven into the ground and also wedges the plastic conduit.

[URL]http://tomatoville.com/showpost.php?p=395415&postcount=2[/URL]

This system handles 50 mph winds without any problems or damages.

I cut poplar sticks 3/4" x 3/4" x 4" (snug fit) to screw onto the 1/2" thinwall used to fasten the tops of the posts together. Then the sticks are slipped into the top of the posts. Claud

Got it, very cleaver setup. Thanks for sharing.

[QUOTE=NewWestGardener;451015]Got it, very cleaver setup. Thanks for sharing.[/QUOTE]


A homemade slide hammer for when you tire of driving the points with a 4 lb. shop hammer and wooden block. Much easier and cheap to build.

BW, good to hear from another Wisconsinite. I garden just west of Lake Winnebago, and almost any bean grown for snaps will succeed here. Getting dry seed can be more difficult (if you want to save your own seed), but most varieties will ripen at least a little dry seed before frost, if planted early.

If space is an issue, you can plant beans in the same place they were last year... but it does run the risk of increasing disease problems over time. If you have a bad disease year, let the space go fallow for at least a year, or plant something other than beans (such as tomatoes), and go back to beans the following year. To get better use of the space, I would recommend replacing the bush beans with pole bean alternatives; [B]Fortex[/B] and [B]Emerite[/B] are two you might be happy with. If you would like to try either of them, PM your address, I'd be happy to send you some.

SaltM, that is the prettiest bean trellis I've seen. I quickly found trellising is a big part of garden production and trying to cut corners is counter-productive. I may try a 100' of pole beans this year or next.

I'm into dried beans.

This year I'm going to grow a 4x30 bed of Koronis Purple. I had just enough seed to plant 10' of row on 2013 and that made a few cup to eat and enough for seed for a 100' row . It was a vigorous, healthy bush, large pods, pretty purple beans, that cooked quickly. It produced far better than the Black Turtles that got the better end of the same row.

JJJessee, I use the trellis for Tomatoes and cucumbers as well. One trick I'll mention which will save a lot of work - after the harvest is complete, use a hoe to cut the vines at the ground and leave them alone until they dry and become brittle. They will crumble off the trellis without any problem and your trellis is ready for the next crop. Claud

I've used this source for trellis and recommend them. [URL]https://www.hummert.com/product-details/5970/hortonova-vegetable-netting[/URL]

I use the FG-10.

@zeedman - Hello fellow Wisconsinite. I am in the Green Bay area.

When do you usually plant your seeds? Last year was so wet and cold. I think I may have planted them a little late. I wanted to try the bush beans because I thought they would be earlier than the pole beans.

I would love to try the 2 varieties you mentioned. Will definitely pm you. Thanks for the offer.

Bird-watcher, I plant beans when the soil has warmed, and there is a dry spell. That might be late May, up to mid-June; my average target date is around June 1st. The last few years, though, sustained wet weather has been a problem... I was able to plant less than half of the beans I had planned last year, and even less in 2013. I grow mostly pole beans, but when planting is delayed into July, I plant bush beans instead.

Your PM was received, I'll be mailing beans out when the weather gets warmer.

[QUOTE=saltmarsh;451073]JJJessee, I use the trellis for Tomatoes and cucumbers as well. One trick I'll mention which will save a lot of work - after the harvest is complete, use a hoe to cut the vines at the ground and leave them alone until they dry and become brittle. They will crumble off the trellis without any problem and your trellis is ready for the next crop. Claud

I've used this source for trellis and recommend them. [URL]https://www.hummert.com/product-details/5970/hortonova-vegetable-netting[/URL]

I use the FG-10.[/QUOTE]


Thank you for this tip! Last year I threw the whole mess onto a brush burn pile because I just didn't have time to strip the trellis, and it really ate at me because of the waste. This year I have an alternative. Again, Thanks!

Very nice set-up Claud and some nice looking bean plants you had growing there. Appreciate you explaining how you set up your rows too.

Yours look so good, I should send you all my bean seed to grow for me. :lol:

[QUOTE=Starlight;451487]Very nice set-up Claud and some nice looking bean plants you had growing there. Appreciate you explaining how you set up your rows too.

Yours look so good, I should send you all my bean seed to grow for me. :lol:[/QUOTE]

Ha. But then you'd miss all the fun.

Very impressive setup saltmarsh.:yes::).

Jean, welcome to Tomatoville.

Kentucky Wonder Bush
Tendergreen Green Beans [Bush bean]
Kentucky Wonder [Pole]
Rattlesnake [Pole]
Sultan's Crescent Green [Pole]

All are really nice varieties. I'm going to grow a lot of Top Crop bush beans this year. They are speckled and the pods have a smooth feel to-the-tongue raw and when cooked. Something that some tomato growers try to stay away from is planting tomatoes where beans/legumes were grown the year before. Legumes produce nitrogen as stated in above posts.

Adding too much nitrogen - but at a still safe level can cause tomato plants to grow larger than usual with tons of leaves and very few tomatoes. So, basically, don't plant tomatoes and beans as companion plants, side-by-side, and try not to plant tomatoes where legumes grew the year before.

Thanks for all the info everyone. Really appreciate it. :)

[quote]Ha. But then you'd miss all the fun.[/quote]

How you figure that Claud? I'll send you my seeds, you plant them, tend them, water and fertilize them, suffer through bugs and any other problems and than....

after you harvest them all, you send the beans to me and I have the fun of eating them without all the work. :lol:

[QUOTE=Starlight;451820]How you figure that Claud? I'll send you my seeds, you plant them, tend them, water and fertilize them, suffer through bugs and any other problems and than....

after you harvest them all, you send the beans to me and I have the fun of eating them without all the work. :lol:[/QUOTE]

Now you are starting to sound like one of my customers. Last year I didn't have time to pick the beans before market. A lady wanted some beans. I offered to let her have them if she would go pick them. She looked at me like I was crazy. She said she didn't want to pick beans, she wanted to buy them. Needless to say she didn't get any beans. Claud

Claud.... It amazes me the number of folks you offer free fresh veggies to if they just come pick it themselves that say they just don't have the time. Yet, they will go to grocery store and spend a longer amount of time than what picking garden fresh would take to pick through piles of old, dried so called "fresh beans."

I've offered free tomato and pepper plants to folks to grow in their yards to help feed their families and get the same thing. Too busy to water and feed a plant. They'll wait til the fruits are available or go to grocery store and buy.

I just don't get how folks can walk away from help yourself, free fresh veggies. Ya won't see me turning town any offers for sure.

Heck I have even gone and picked through seconds and thirds that were offered free and came back and helped clean up after harvest in exchange.

[QUOTE=AlittleSalt;451499]

Adding too much nitrogen - but at a still safe level can cause tomato plants to grow larger than usual with tons of leaves and very few tomatoes. So, basically, don't plant tomatoes and beans as companion plants, side-by-side, and try not to plant tomatoes where legumes grew the year before.[/QUOTE]

Thank you for that advice as that is exactly where I had been planting a bunch of beans. I don't have a whole lot of beans per say, but have a lot of new ones I haven't grown before and have enough seed to make at least three hills of each type to taste fresh and than save seeds from hopefully.

I'm anxious to see how the ones I got do down here in heat, humidity.

I plant Jackson Wonder, which is supposed to be a bush bean, but it does put on a few runners, so I just plant in double rows on either side of a 2ft high run of wire. I always try to rotate the location, so that other plants can benefit from any nitrogen added to the soil by the beans.